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CRM software: Bitrix24 CRM at a glance

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Inhaltsverzeichnis

(Status June 2020)

On 26.06.2020 the release presentation for the new software Bitrix24.London took place.

Bitrix24.London: Unter diesem Link kann jeder sich die Präsentation auf YouTube anschauen. Kunden bzw. Anwender und Konkurrenten sind sicher gespannt auf die Informationen, was sich in den letzten Wochen entwickelt hat. Auch gibt es schon Antworten auf die Corona-Herausforderungen. Welche Tools/Features sind neu bzw. welche neue Funktionen ergänzen die bisherige Software? Welche Module, Tools/Features für CRM wurden verbessert oder erweitert?

Bitrix24.London: Under this link everyone can watch the presentation on YouTube. Customers or users and competitors are certainly eager to know what has been happening in the last weeks. There are also already answers to the Corona challenges. Which tools/features are new or new functions complement the existing software? Which modules, tools/features for CRM have been improved or extended?

Who or what is Bitrix24 or Bitrix Intranet Portal?

Bitrix24 is one of the most comprehensive software systems on the CRM market. It is owned by the Russian company Bitrix Inc. which has locations in several countries. Currently, more than 5 million organizations in 225 countries (source: own data) use the software. About 2 years ago, there were only 3 million organizations. (Whereby the press kit of 25.06.2020 still communicates both figures today. However, since a release is announced for 26.06.2020, the press kit may change as a result. At another place there are even 7 million organizations)

It has a partner network of about 12,000 partners and employs about 200 employees. The software house was founded in 1998 by 5 founders around Dmitry Valyanov, the current president. The founding team (Dmitry Valyanov, President, Co-Founder; Sergey Rizhikov, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder; Vadim Dumbravanu, Vice President Technology, Co-Founder; Yury Tushinsky, Chief Technical Officer, Co-Founder; Alexey Sidorenko, Business Development Director, Russia&CIS, Co-Founder) is today based in Alexandria, Virginia.

Which customers does the software company address with the CRM product, the Bitrix24 Intranet Portal?

Especially for small companies and teams Bitrix24 offers free software. Currently (as of 26.06.2020) a company can use a license in unlimited numbers with limited functionality for free.

All in all, the entire software package, which the provider also offers as “Bitrix Intranet Portal”, offers the following core functionalities or rather the Bitrix Intranet software focuses on the following functions:

  • Communication and information
    more than 35 intranet and social collaboration tools for fast communication within the team and between employees
  • Project management: for clear tasks and project administration and productive project handling
  • CRM or customer relationship management (including mobile functionalities)
  • Contact center for and efficient customer service
  • Portal, intranet, extranet, websites and e-commerce functions and connections
  • personnel administration and extensive administration tools.

The social intranet tool, formerly called Bitrix Intranet Portal, can be used by the customer both on-premise (on their own server network) and from the cloud. The latest version was relaunched in 2012.

IT managers can carry out their own development on the on-premise version, as the source code is disclosed. So we are curious to see what’s new on 26.06.2020. (see elsewhere in this article)

Social Intranet: CRM and the integration of various social media accounts is a top priority.

Users can easily manage their accounts such as Twitter and Facebook via Bitrix24. Working with other tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer can thus be partially or completely eliminated.

Employees can also define projects and tasks, assign them to someone else and monitor them at all times. In addition, collaboration with external users on specific projects can be easily controlled. In addition, Bitrix24 can take over communication with one or more team members via its own intranet. It is also easy to add further participants. This makes it easier for the customer to manage tasks and workflows.

In addition, Bitrix24 allows customers to make phone calls, send e-mails and work together on documents. And the user decides who can access or change the uploaded document.

If the user or a team member changes a file, they can track the changes and, if desired, restore a previous file version. His documents are stored in his own bitrix24cloud.

Here you can find the whole list of the current tools and features of bitrix24.

E-Mail communication and E-Mail integration

If a user wants to send e-mails directly (or without Outlook) from the system, he can store his IMAP and SMTP settings. External e-mail marketing tools such as Mailchimp or Sendpulse can also be integrated

Apps for Apple iPhone and Google are available for mobile use in CRM.

The tool also has a mobile app for Android and iOS, which allows offline access to data.

Interfaces and integrations e.g. office or e-commerce

On the one hand you can integrate Microsoft Office 365. It is also possible to integrate a Microsoft Bot Framework.

Furthermore, Bitrix24 is very well positioned in the API area. It offers interfaces to numerous tools. And if that is not enough, many extensions are available in the Bitrix24 App Store. In the on-premise version the user also has access to the source code and can thus program his own API.

You can create your own online shop or with the open interface, program the connection yourself. A website builder (incl. site manager) is also included depending on the version. Landing pages are also directly connected with it. A company can thus – in addition to the social network – get its own communication channel from a single source at quite a reasonable price.

A few apps for paper are available “on top”.

What else is there to say about this CRM product?

The clear user interface is based on the proven structure of some social media platforms. Activity Stream allows a very good overview of the account or customer. The user gets all internal and external data displayed in one place. So the user can easily track all changes.

Versions/Prices

Bitrix24 is available as cloud and self-hosted version. The cloud data is stored in two data centers of European Amazon Web Services in Frankfurt am Main. The prices are adapted to the individual requirements of the company.

There are four different tariffs for the CRM in the cloud version (June 2020)

The free tariff includes any number of users and five gigabytes of storage capacity. The offer was previously limited to 12 users. Possibly this will change again after a mitigation of Corona.

The further tariffs or prices are graduated according to 2 users (12 Euro per month) 6 users (34.50 Euro per month), 24 users (34.50 Euro per month) and 50 users (49.50 Euro per month) as well as for an unlimited number of users (99.50 Euro per month).

The self-hosted version for the own server is available for up to 12 users from 1.490,00 €. Up to 50 users cost 2,990 € in the business solution. The enterprise solution starts at 24,990 euros. The on-premise solution can be integrated or synchronized via an Active Directory.

For security reasons, here is the link to the price list. The costs for maintenance and support are added.

Some important advantages of Bitrix24 CRM summarized for you:

  • Very wide range of functions + App Store
  • Focus on collaboration (e.g. chat) for internal collaboration, an extranet for collaboration with third parties
  • No intensive training necessary
  • Many possibilities for automation and digitalisation
  • Very good connection to social networks
  • Duplicates are recognized during import
  • Business card scanner app
  • Mobile Apps for iPhone and Android
  • E-commerce and Internet presence can be directly connected

Do you want to compare bitrix24 with other CRM providers?

You can find a current provider comparison here.

A conclusion and a summary:

If the figures of 5 million organizations are correct, Bitrix is certainly one of the most widespread providers worldwide. So a lot of new customers have been added in the last 2 years. Since the range of functions is already huge and constantly growing, it is a product that should be on the checklist before a CRM software decision in small and medium-sized companies.

It belongs to the group of CRM systems that are very extensive.

We have been watching Bitrix for about 6-7 years now. And so we can see: The company’s development speed is very high. Bitrix is constantly evolving. New functionalities or specific CRM elements are constantly being added. So the suite is becoming more and more complete. So it is quite possible to use the name “The little Salesforce” as a label. As a user, you get a complete digital workplace with full control. Whether one uses the many possibilities at all, that is the other question.

The price/performance ratio is extremely good. A free CRM to get started is very tempting. Even within the free version there are already good features included. In this respect, if you are looking for a tool for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), bitrix24 belongs in the Long List.

One supposed weakness is the very small partner network in German-speaking countries.

Nevertheless, a partner could be helpful in implementing a solution on their own server with the corresponding VMWare (info on Virtual Appliance for Windows and Linux). Competitors certainly have a head start here.

The cloud solution, which is not quite as flexible to customize, nevertheless offers a comprehensive set of features.

Further information about bitrix24 can be found here. 

How to choose a software you can read here. Special requirements for CRM software are described here.

How to start this system?

In a workshop, you should think about which requirements you will first implement with bitrix24. Get an idea of the free options and check the Look&Feel. Create your own internal roadmap. Read here what an introduction can look like. We would be happy to help you create this roadmap and accompany you as a sparring partner for your own safety.

Is it marketing or sales or the lead management? First create a lead and then create or manage this lead and then the other, new leads? If the first issue is collaboration, it is advisable to activate the intranet functions in the intranet portal.

The Activity Stream

shows you who did what to which customer, completed what, etc. Information can be exchanged briefly and concisely in the chat without the use of e-mail. Recurring tasks can be created as a small workflow. You can use the project management functions. Everything is integrated in the Bitrix24 CRM platform. By setting up the cloud storage, you also save yourself the need to connect additional cloud service providers. Whether this accelerates the speed of data transfer or the call of the web pages would still have to be checked by us.

In any case, you should first think about which goals you want to achieve with which feature. How digital should the company become in the first or next step? Does the feature fit as it is available? Can it be customized? Who helps with customizing? In the on-premise solution you are more flexible. However, you will also need your own personnel or external help to make this solution “fly”.

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Note: This is a machine translation. It is neither 100% complete nor 100% correct. We can therefore not guarantee the result.

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